A system and method for overriding an alignment circuit of an electric center pivot irrigation system. The system may include a local controller wired to the alignment circuit and a remote control wirelessly communicating with the local controller. The remote control may receive an alignment fault alert from the local controller indicating that the alignment circuit has switched to the open circuit configuration. Next, the remote control may send an auto-alignment signal to the local controller. The auto-alignment signal may instruct the local controller to command a relay to switch to a bypass mode. In the bypass mode, signals between the local controller and operational elements of the electric center pivot irrigation system bypass the alignment circuit. The auto-alignment circuit may also command the operational elements to reverse travel directions of the electric center pivot irrigation system simultaneously while the alignment circuit is bypassed.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for controlling an electric center pivot irrigation system having a plurality of towers attached to each other by a plurality of spans, wherein the electric center pivot irrigation system is controlled by a control system including a local controller, a remote communication element, operational elements controlling a plurality of operations, an alignment circuit electrically coupling the operational elements and the local controller, and a relay, wherein the alignment circuit is configured to switch to an open circuit configuration when one or more of the towers are out of alignment and to switch to a closed circuit configuration when all of the towers are back in alignment with each other, the method comprising: receiving with a remote control an alignment fault alert from the local controller, via the remote communication element, indicating that the alignment circuit has switched to the open circuit configuration; and sending an auto-alignment signal from the remote control to the local controller, via the remote communication element, instructing the local controller to command the relay to switch to a bypass mode in which signals between the operational elements and the local controller bypass the alignment circuit and to command the operational elements to reverse travel directions of the electric center pivot irrigation system.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the relay is switched to bypass the alignment circuit for at least one of a threshold number of occurrences and a threshold amount of time.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational elements are commanded to reverse travel directions of the electric center pivot irrigation system for at least one of a threshold number of occurrences and a threshold amount of time.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a status signal from the local controller between each of a plurality of occurrences of the relay being switched to bypass the alignment circuit, wherein the status signal indicates whether or not the alignment circuit has switched to the closed circuit configuration and the towers are back in alignment.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational elements comprise a transformer and forward and reverse contactors, and the auto-alignment signal instructs the local controller to command the forward and reverse contactors to reverse the electric center pivot irrigation system in a direction opposite a current direction of travel.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of presenting on a display screen of the remote control an option to select auto-alignment in response to receiving the alignment fault alert, wherein the auto-alignment signal is sent in response to selection of the option for auto-alignment by a user via a user interface of the remote control.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising a step of displaying on the display screen at least one of terms, conditions, and warnings to be acknowledged by the user prior to sending the auto-alignment signal.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote control is at least one of a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a desktop computer.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of receiving with the remote control a manual override status signal indicating that the alignment circuit is being bypassed via actuation of a pivot user interface electrically coupled to the alignment circuit and the local controller.
10. A physical, non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon for controlling an electric center pivot irrigation system having a plurality of towers attached to each other by a plurality of spans, wherein the electric center pivot irrigation system is controlled by a control system including a local controller, a remote communication element, operational elements controlling a plurality of operations, an alignment circuit electrically coupling the operational elements and the local controller, and a relay, wherein the alignment circuit is configured to switch to an open circuit configuration when one or more of the towers are out of alignment and to switch to a closed circuit configuration when all of the towers are back in alignment with each other, the computer program comprising: a code segment for receiving with a remote control an alignment fault alert from the local controller, via the remote communication element, indicating that the alignment circuit has switched to the open circuit configuration; and a code segment for sending an auto-alignment signal from the remote control to the local controller, via the remote communication element, instructing the local controller to command the relay to switch to a bypass mode in which signals between the operational elements and the local controller bypass the alignment circuit and to command the operational elements to reverse travel directions of the electric center pivot irrigation system.
11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the relay is switched to bypass the alignment circuit for at least one of a threshold number of occurrences and a threshold amount of time.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the operational elements are commanded to reverse travel directions of the electric center pivot irrigation system for at least one of a threshold number of occurrences and a threshold amount of time.
13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising: a code segment for receiving a status signal from the local controller between each of a plurality of occurrences of the relay being switched to bypass the alignment circuit, wherein the status signal indicates whether or not the alignment circuit has switched to the closed circuit configuration and the towers are back in alignment.
14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the operational elements comprise a transformer and forward and reverse contactors, and the auto-alignment signal instructs the local controller to command the forward and reverse contactors to reverse the electric center pivot irrigation system in a direction opposite a current direction of travel.
15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising a code segment for presenting on a display screen of the remote control an option to select auto-alignment in response to receiving the alignment fault alert, wherein the auto-alignment signal is sent in response to selection of the option for auto-alignment by a user via a user interface of the remote control.
16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising a code segment for displaying on the display screen at least one of terms, conditions, and warnings to be acknowledged by the user prior to sending the auto-alignment signal.
17. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the remote control is at least one of a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a desktop computer.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising a code segment for receiving with the remote control a manual override status signal indicating that the alignment circuit is being bypassed via actuation of a pivot user interface electrically coupled to the alignment circuit and the local controller.
19. A system for controlling an electric center pivot irrigation system having a plurality of towers attached to each other by a plurality of spans, wherein the electric center pivot irrigation system includes an original control system having an original control logic, operational elements controlling a plurality of operations, and an alignment circuit, wherein the alignment circuit is configured to switch to an open circuit configuration when one or more of the towers are out of alignment and to switch to a closed circuit configuration when all of the towers are back in alignment with each other, the system comprising: a local controller configured to be communicably coupled with at least one of the operational elements of the electric center pivot irrigation system, the local controller being installed at a pivoting point of the electric center pivot irrigation system and bypassing the original control logic of the original control system; a user interface communicably coupled with the local controller and configured to receive selections from a user and communicate the selections to the local controller; a remote communication element configured receive data from a remote control according to selections made by the user remotely controlling the plurality of operations of the electric center pivot irrigation system, the remote communication element being configured for installation at the pivoting point of the electric center pivot irrigation system, and being functionally integrated with the local controller such that a change made via the remote communication element is reflected in the local controller; and a relay configured to electrically couple the alignment circuit with at least one of the local controller and the operational elements, wherein the local controller is configured to, in response to detecting that the alignment circuit has switched to the open circuit configuration, send an alignment fault alert to the remote control via the remote communication element, wherein the local controller, in response to receiving an auto-alignment signal from the remote control via the remote communication element, is configured to switch the relay to a bypass mode in which signals between the operational elements and the local controller bypass the alignment circuit and to command the operational elements to reverse travel directions of the electric center pivot irrigation system, wherein the local controller is configured to place the relay in the bypass mode for at least one of a threshold number of occurrences and a threshold amount of time.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the local controller is configured to determine if the alignment circuit has switched to the closed circuit configuration between each of the occurrences of the relay being switched to bypass the alignment and to output a notification of success to the remote control via the remote communication element if the alignment circuit is determined to again be in the closed circuit configuration.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
December 11, 2015
October 16, 2018
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